Ibtihaj Muhammad Says France Is Forcing Olympians to “Choose Between Faith and Sport”

The 2024 Olympics are right around the corner — something Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad would typically be celebrating. But this year, she’s calling the Games, or rather its host, “shameful.”

“When I think of sport, I think of [it] as being an inclusive space — a space where you can come as you,” Muhammad tells PS. But France’s decision to ban its athletes from wearing hijabs at the 2024 Olympics is the opposite of that, she says.

The ban was announced in September 2023 despite the International Olympic Committee (IOC) having no rules against wearing religious coverings or headscarves. Human rights organizations have asked the French authorities to reverse the decision in recent months with no luck. And the ban has only garnered more attention as it contradicts recent claims that the Paris Games will be the first-ever gender-equal Olympics. Just this week, a new report from Amnesty International called out the ban and French authorities for “discriminatory hypocrisy” at the Olympic level — but also in other sports in France, including football, basketball, and volleyball, and in competitions, including youth and amateur ones. France has also banned the wearing of religious symbols, including hijabs, in schools since 2004.

“The French authorities made it emphatically and unashamedly clear however that their proclaimed efforts at improving gender equality and inclusivity in sports do not apply to one group of women and girls — those Muslim women and girls who wear religious head coverings,” the Amnesty International Report states.

“I spent more than half my life training and competing in a sport that I love, and I can’t imagine having it taken away from me because of my religious beliefs — and that is essentially what France is doing.”

Muhammad couldn’t agree more. “France is claiming to be the first equitable games, and it’s laughable to say that it’s equitable but to omit an entire group of people from that conversation of equity,” she tells PS. “It’s shameful.”

On top of that, “they are forcing women to choose between faith and sport,” Muhammad says.

“I spent more than half my life training and competing in a sport that I love, and I can’t imagine having it taken away from me because of my religious beliefs — and that is essentially what France is doing,” she adds. What’s not being talked about, she says, is how this decision will trickle down beyond the world of professional athletes and into the mindset of Muslim women and girls in France, no matter their age or their level of sport.

“Children are going to ask themselves, ‘If I want to play sport, what parts of myself do I need to change in order to make that happen?’ And I think that that’s an unfair thing to ask anyone to do,” Muhammad says.

What’s also disheartening is the lack of outrage from French athletes and the IOC, she says. “I follow a ton of French athletes online, in fencing and other sports. I haven’t heard many people speak out against this. But I will say that a lot of times when it comes to underrepresented communities, especially those who are Muslim, we’ve normalized silence,” Muhammad says.

As for the IOC, Muhammad is also questioning its decision not to pushback on the ban, especially given that the IOC allows athletes to wear religious headwear. It appears the hosts have tried to distance themselves from the ban entirely, putting all the responsibility on the host country. As Time reports, “In a statement sent to TIME, the IOC said that while its own rules mean that women are free to observe the hijab, athletes competing for French national teams are considered to be civil servants who must act in accordance with national contexts.” (The IOC did not immediately respond to PS’s request for comment.)

That’s not enough, Muhammad argues. “I just think that there needs to be laws in place that ensure that future Olympic host countries are upholding the fundamental principles of the Olympics,” she says. For her, that means all athletes, including Muslim women, should be allowed to compete without facing discrimination.

“As an athlete, I know how challenging it is to even get to this point in your career to qualify,” Muhammad says. “So to say that you can’t do it as you are, I think is a gross violation of our human rights as as women, as Muslims, our religious freedom — and I think that it’s discriminatory. I hope that we as a global community stand up for Muslim women in this moment.”

Alexis Jones is the senior health and fitness editor at PS. Her passions and areas of expertise include women’s health and fitness, mental health, racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare, and chronic conditions. Prior to joining PS, she was the senior editor at Health magazine. Her other bylines can be found at Women’s Health, Prevention, Marie Claire, and more.